


The New Man

by bees_stories



Series: The New Team Torchwood Adventures [10]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Clones, Drama, Gen, Introspection, Multi, bloody torchwood, relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-14
Updated: 2014-08-14
Packaged: 2018-02-13 03:36:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2135598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bees_stories/pseuds/bees_stories
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Team Torchwood deals with the fallout after another cloning pod falls through the Rift. It brings up uncomfortable memories for Jack and Ianto and a serious dilemma for Andy. A New Team Torchwood Story.<br/>A/N: Written for the hurt_comfort bingo prompt: 'clones'. Contains some general spoilers for Torchwood series 1 and 2 and my previous stories: <em>Double Talk</em> and <em>Under His Master's Eye</em>, although neither one of those stories need to be read first for this to make sense.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The New Man

***

_"Andy Davidson to the medical bay. Andy to the medical bay, please."_

Andy scowled upward at the public address, but it was his own fault Felicity had resorted to using the system. His Blue Tooth earpiece, these days almost a permanent fixture, was stuck in his trouser pocket instead of in his right ear. He didn't remember removing it. But then he'd been off his game for the last six weeks, driven to distraction by the litany of 'What ifs?' that had been looping through his brain. Felicity's voice was dispassionate. She was, after all, a professional doing the job she was trained for, but there was nothing of the other Felicity, the one who had been his best mate since the day he'd joined Torchwood in her tone, and because of that, Andy's heart started beating faster.

The time for wondering was over. 

It had been forty-three days minus two hours since Andy and his team had gone out on a routine recovery mission. Forty-three days minus two hours since he'd screwed up and accidentally activated some unknown control on the device and, according to Felicity, received the most comprehensive medical exam of his life. Forty-three days minus two hours of his team mates shooting him sympathetic looks and whispering with their heads bent together, speculating about potential outcomes, when they thought he wasn't looking.

Forty-three days minus two hours since the machinery inside the pod began to cycle.

Ianto, with Jack following closely at his heels, came out of the mouth of the tunnel leading to the lower levels just as Andy's boot hit the bottom rung of the catwalk stairs. Their eyes met, just for a moment, and then Ianto's glance flickered away in response to something Jack said that was too soft for Andy to hear.

Jack, whose voice nearly always boomed out over the Hub. 

Felicity met them at the entryway to the medical bay. She gave him a workmate smile, the first hint he'd had that maybe, just maybe everything might not be a total shambles, and tipped her head towards the main body of the wing, inviting them to enter. Andy's heart sped up, just like it used to when he was about to walk into a dark alley with nothing to protect him but his wits and his baton. He took a calming breath and, ignoring his instincts to retreat somewhere safe, followed. 

The dull metallic grey tube no longer held a place of prominence in the bay. It had been shunted down to to the lower level science lab and the space that formerly contained it housed a bed instead. In the bed was a sleeping man, his arm had been taped to an I.V. board. Tubes ran from the crook of his elbow to a series of bags on a stand near the head of the bed. Other tubes ran in other directions. Telemetry leads were taped to various points on his body. A box sat on a tray, displaying their various outputs. 

_It's not me_ , Andy reminded himself firmly. He pushed away visceral memories of being taped and tubed and wired after an encounter with a nearly microscopic alien insect. For a moment it was so strong he could feel the pull of adhesive inside his elbow as he flexed his arm.

This was the first time Andy had seen the clone properly. Since his decanting, or untubing, or whatever they called it when clones finished replicating, he had been under the scrutiny of the science team, being scanned and tested for hostile alien technology, and his mind probed for hints that there was some other intelligence quietly hiding in wait, waiting for its opportunity to go rogue, like a cell of sleeper agents who had once resided in Cardiff. 

They had found nothing. And somehow, that made it worse. Because now they had no reason not to wake him up and see for themselves if it actually was Andy's perfect duplicate.

A screen had been set up around the next bed space. Felicity pulled back the curtain. The bed had been replaced by three chairs and a monitor. She flipped the switch on the monitor and her patient came into view. 

"We don't want to overwhelm or confuse him. Especially while we're doing the initial assessment." Felicity smoothed the front of her lab coat, the only external sign that she shared Andy's case of nerves. "You can watch from here, but you need to stay absolutely quiet. Whatever happens, Andy, don't show yourself. Not yet. Do you understand?"

Andy nodded. Felicity waited, unsatisfied, given the uncertain status of her patient, with a non-verbal response. Andy cleared his throat and replied as clearly as he could. Work time meant work rules. In the medical bay she was senior to everyone, including the Captain. "Yes, Dr Porter, I understand." 

The pair exchanged pointed looks. Andy looked away first. He took the chair nearest the monitor and settled in as, on the screen, Dev, Felicity's nurse, protégée, and preferred assistant during delicate procedures, brought in a tray of loaded syringes, and Jack and Ianto sat down beside him. 

"Nervous?" Jack whispered. 

For a second it wasn't clear who he was speaking to but Andy figured the question must be addressed to him and answered 'yes' as Ianto gave Jack a thin lipped smile that suggested he might be just the slightest bit on edge as well.

Felicity drew a breath, smoothed her coat once more and said, "I think we better get started. Dev, reverse the sedation." 

Dev went through the motions, her fingers adept as she adjusted the drip, double checked the contents of the syringe, and finally evacuated a small amount of fluid along with any potential air bubbles. Finally she administered the dose. 

After a minute or so, the unconscious man began to stir. He caught sight of Dev and reached towards her wincing as he pulled his I.V. "Dev," he whispered hoarsely. "What happened? Where's Felicity?"

Felicity stepped out from behind the screen. "I'm here." She smiled down at the clone; a gentle reassuring smile. "It's just routine precaution after a field incident." 

"Incident? What field incident. I don't remember any incident." His voice was thick with confusion and groggy, but its Welsh inflection was unmistakeable, Andy had heard recordings of it often enough to know it at once. 

"That's why we're evaluating you," Felicity said. "Now, come on, let's start with the boilerplate. Name, rank, serial number."

"Really, Felicity?" 

Andy watched himself scowl. His breath caught and a roar filled his ears. He felt a large hand against his back and then his head was down between his knees. "Christ," he whispered, mindful of Felicity's strict instructions not to give their presence away. "A clone. I've been cloned. It's really, real." He teetered on the edge of blackness for a second and then mentally gave himself a sharp yank on the bootstraps. Barely keeping himself in check, Andy turned his head towards Jack. It was his hand who'd shoved him forward when he had threatened to pass out, and rested between his shoulder blades still, offering much needed comfort. 

On screen, Felicity raised an eyebrow and settled in. Andy knew that look. It meant she was willing to wait, all night if necessary, to get what she wanted. Finally the clone sighed, as if he'd fought that battle of wills before and lost. "You're a stubborn woman," he groused. "Andy Davidson. Torchwood operative number 66523. Date of birth – "

Andy straightened, felt his stomach lurch as a residual wave of vertigo caught up with him, and swallowed hard against the sick feeling. He felt eyes watching him and saw that Jack was poised to catch him if he threatened to pass out again. Ianto was staring at the screen, transfixed, with a barely suppressed look of dismay that drew the corners of his mouth into troubled lines. 

"That's fine," Felicity said. "Now tell me the last thing you remember." 

The clone shrugged against his pillows. "Routine pick up job down by the estuary. Me and Mark and Stuart went. There was a big grey tube stuck in the mud. Stuart said it reminded him of a space age coffin. After fiddling with his meters, Mark gave the all clear so we moved in and – " He broke off and gave Felicity a frustrated look. "Funny. I don't remember anything after that." 

"Relax. You're doing fine," Felicity said. 

Behind the screen, Andy frowned. "Just like that," he whispered.

Ianto whispered back, "That's how these things happen." 

"You're doing fine," Felicity repeated firmly. The harder the clone tried to pull non-existent memories to the fore, the more agitated he became. Felicity stroked his shoulder in a soothing manner for a few seconds and didn't pull away when the clone clutched at her hand, seeking reassurance. Once he had calmed sufficiently, Felicity took a breath for herself and then resumed the debriefing. "Now why don't you tell me what happened on … " She hesitated for a moment. "Monday night." 

Andy's frown deepened and then he averted his eyes from the screen as the clone promptly replied. "We went home after a twenty hour shift. Wound down over a Margherita pizza and that bottle of wine the neighbour we still haven't met yet left as a house-warming present. Then we … " The clone trailed off, glanced upward at the CCTV link and then gave Felicity a significant look that left no doubt in anybody's mind that he remembered exactly how they had spent the rest of the evening.

Felicity ducked her head, fighting to maintain her professional composure. When she pushed the fringe off her forehead, Andy knew she was close to losing it. She hated the fringe, and in its intermediate stage, found it a distraction and a source of irritation. But growing it out was a key component of softening the boyish crew cut she had favoured during her military career. 

Andy didn't really care if Felicity's hair was long, short or shaved to the skin, he loved her. And seeing her unhappy made his heart hurt. He wondered why it was easier to ruminate over Felicity's hairstyle instead of paying attention to a potentially life changing conversation and realised that it was possible he was still more than a little overwhelmed. Too overwhelmed to listen objectively for signs that something was amiss. He dragged his attention away from his best girl and back to his job, and found that the interview was nearly over. 

"So, can I get out of here now?" the clone asked.

"Not just yet." Felicity tipped her head, signalling Dev, who had efficiently faded into the background during the informal interrogation, but like the former constable she was, had kept a weather eye on the entire proceedings, less something go awry. She nodded back and injected a fresh syringe into the I.V. feed. "We need to run a few more tests. Right now you need to rest." 

The clone's eyelids trembled and then he sighed and faded out into a chemically-induced state of unconsciousness. Felicity pushed back the screen. Her expression was closed and her eyes were troubled. "Every expression. Every gesture. No mirror effect, switching left for right and visa versa," she explained as an afterthought. "It could be Andy in that bed." 

"That complicates things," Jack said. 

"How?" Andy asked. "How can this get any more complicated?" He rose suddenly. "I need some air." He started to walk out of the med bay and then he paused. "Ianto, can I talk to you? Some place that's not here." 

"Yeah. Of course." Ianto exchanged looks with Jack and Felicity and then followed Andy out of the room. 

Felicity gestured for Dev to give them some space. "How does this complicate things, Captain?" she asked quietly when they were alone. 

Jack let out a heavy breath, as if he had been thinking furiously and it had tired him. "We know what the pods do, but we don't know why they're showing up here or what their maker's intended." He glanced at Andy's doppelgänger for a long moment with his lips pressed together in a flat, grim line, as if he was contemplating all sorts of equally grim possibilities. "And that, Dr Porter, is the complication."

***

Andy and Ianto walked out of the medical bay, up the catwalk and into the lift. They didn't speak until they were all the way through the upstairs offices, threading their way through the agents still toiling in front of their computers. It was dusk when they finally got out onto the Plass. They kept walking, onto the quay until they reached one of the overlooks. They contemplated the view of the bay and the fading sunset as Andy marshalled his thoughts.

Ianto had a fair idea of why Andy had singled him out. Of the rest of them he was uniquely qualified to offer his advice. The interview with the clone had confirmed the possibility that somewhere out there, on the other side of a wormhole, there was another Ianto Jones. 

He waited quietly, feeling the old, mostly forgotten, urge for a cigarette to pass the time and ease the tension that was building around them. Instead he watched the breakers and the small boats out on the water as Andy wrestled with his thoughts. Over the past month and a half, the medical and science teams had pored over Tosh's readings from the previous encounter, postulating what had been going on inside the tube. Its inner workings had been heavily shielded, and yet they had been able to discover that the self-actuating pod did more than provide high tech medical scans. It used the data it collected. Unable to shut the machine down, they had watched and speculated further as lights and chimes indicated cycle after cycle reaching its completion. They took measurements and thought up new tests and eventually noticed that the tube's weight was increasing. And then once they were reasonably sure of what was going on inside, they began to debate what to do next. 

Freezer. Reprogram. Even euthanise. They were working blind, without any real precedent. They didn't have a procedure, not even a half forgotten one in the materials recovered from Torchwood One. All Mark and Felicity and the rest could do is debate and wait with bated breaths as the tube completed its replication cycle.

"What would you have done?" Andy finally asked. "If that pod of yours hadn't been sucked back into the Rift? 

Ianto shrugged. Those had been different times. They had been undermanned and overworked and another one of him would have made life a whole lot easier. "Honestly? I would have insisted Jack hire him and as his first assignment, have the clone forge his own cover story and identity papers." 

"No hesitation?" Andy asked a trifle sceptically.

"None whatsoever," Ianto replied. "But what you have to understand is, I wouldn't have been going into it cold. Not like you. You may not know this, but I've been cloned before." 

Andy's mouth fell open and, for several seconds, he stared at Ianto in wide-eyed disbelief. "You're not serious." 

Ianto nodded. "It was a couple of years back. Same sort of situation. I swear it's the easy jobs you have to be the most cautious on. Anyway, there was this box, about this big." He held out his hands and sketched the dimensions of a briefcase-sized box in the air. "Some residual Rift energy activated the mechanism and the next thing I knew there were two of me."

"What did you do?"

Ianto felt the tips of his ears redden as he blushed at the memory of making out with himself after the replicant finally got him to admit that, despite the fact they were sleeping together, he was walking on eggshells around Jack, afraid to put a foot wrong, lest he damage the tenuous relationship they had started to rebuild. It was the replicant that had convinced him it was all right to loosen up and inject some fun into their love life so they could both start to let down their guards around each other again, becoming friends as well as lovers. 

Fortunately, the shadows were heavy enough not to betray his reaction. "As it turned out, it wasn't a proper clone, more of a temporary replicant used for home psychotherapy."

"If you can't talk to your shrink, at least talk to yourself?" Andy said. 

Ianto nodded. "Something like that, yeah. Anyway, as soon as Owen decreed that it wasn't going to hit me over the head when my back was turned and take my place, we went down to the Archives." He smiled at his remembered sense of accomplishment. "I cleared more rubbish out of the storage backlog in a couple of hours than you'd believe possible, and I gave myself some pretty good advice in the bargain." 

Very good advice as it had turned out. He and Jack had turned an important corner that night. One they might not have navigated if Ianto hadn't been forced to examine the state of his love life. And although Jack had been severely disappointed that the replicant had been a one-time use device, he masked it well, upping his own game so that his sometimes innovative style of lovemaking had become truly inspired. Much to their mutual satisfaction. 

Ianto realised his thoughts were drifting far from Andy's dilemma and he pulled them firmly away from Jack, sex, and other fun and games, and back to the situation at hand. "But I'm not you," he said. "And your life isn't in the same place as mine was back then. The truth is, Andy, this isn't a conversation you should be having with me, it's one you need to have with yourself, because like it or not, there are two of you now." He gave Andy a compassionate-filled look. "I'll warn you, it's a bit peculiar at first, talking to yourself. But I promise, it does get easier."

Andy didn't seem convinced. He stared out at the darkened water as he contemplated Ianto's advice, and then, just as the lamp above them flickered to life and cast a yellowish pall over the quayside, he nodded his head and let out a heavy sigh. "No point putting it off, I guess." He clapped Ianto on the shoulder. "Thanks." 

Ianto watched Andy walk back to the Hub with a heavy step. He nearly turned to go himself, but he sensed, rather than saw, motion in the shadows and paused as he heard the tread of a familiar boot. 

Jack stepped out of the shadows. Ianto gave him a half-smile of welcome and then turned back towards the bay, settling himself against Jack's chest as he was embraced from behind. 

"You okay?" Jack asked. 

Ianto shrugged. "Yeah, fine." He tipped his head towards Jack, saw that his face was weary, and then returned his gaze to further contemplate the water as he asked a difficult question he wasn't sure he wanted the answer to. "You've been kind of quiet during all this. Is there something you're not telling us?"

Jack shook his head. "Not this time. I'm as much in the dark as the rest of you. Sure, I've seen disposable clones, like the one you had your run in with. But a full blown, walking, talking, memory intact copy? Uh uh. Banned everywhere, as far as I know. On the systems where the bioethicists waffled, the tax authorities put both feet down. And believe me, some of those guys make Inland Revenue seem warm and fuzzy. It would take the original and the clone working for the rest of their natural lives to pay off the fines and penalties."

"Ouch," Ianto said as he contemplated the vindictive nature of tax collectors everywhere. 

"Plus," Jack said, "this whole mess has had me thinking." 

Ianto knew about what. Apparently Jack's apprehension mirrored his own increasingly morbid thoughts about the pod that had scanned him. "What if the pod I came in contact with survived the Rift?" 

"Yeah," Jack said. "What if there's another you out there somewhere, lost and alone?"

Ianto sighed softly. "I was thinking about that while I was talking to Andy." 

"And what did you conclude?" Jack asked softly as he gathered Ianto a little closer. 

"That once I'd calmed down and quit hyperventilating, I'd try and remember all the things that you taught me and then I'd use them as best I could to survive. If there is another me out there somewhere, he's okay because of you." 

"You were a survivor before you met me, Ianto Jones," Jack said. "Smart, adaptable, and willing to think on your feet. I may have given you a few pointers, but even if you hadn't met me, you would have done all right." 

Ianto glanced backwards at Jack again, his face serious. "You're going to support Andy, no matter what he decides." He didn't ask as much as present the course of action he thought Jack should follow. 

Jack nodded. "He's got a tough decision ahead of him. And I know, whatever he decides, that it's not one he's going to make lightly. Of course I'll support him."

Ianto relaxed a fraction in Jack's embraced and then he leant back and brushed his lips against the underside of Jack's jaw. "You need a shave." 

"And we both need a good night's sleep," Jack added. "Don't think I haven't noticed how you've been tossing and turning." He shifted their weights and spun Ianto so that they were standing chest to chest. "Once this is over with, want to have a night in at the St David? It's been weeks since we've been anywhere nice." 

"Yeah," Ianto said, thinking of how his therapy simulacrum would approve. "As soon as we get Andy sorted, I'll make the booking."

***

Andy strode into the medical bay, mentally tooling up for what was probably going to be the strangest conversation he'd had since joining Torchwood, and that included his first day when he found out that vampires were real. Felicity was sitting at her desk, pretending to review what looked like a stack of annual fitness reports. He cleared his throat, and she flinched and then drew a breath.  
"Miles away, weren't you, love," he said, breaking their tacit agreement about not mixing their work and personal lives.

Felicity smiled up at Andy half-heartedly. "You caught me out," she replied, glancing over at the sleeping clone. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around him. He's you, Andy, right up until you touched that pod." 

Andy nodded back at Felicity. The discovery that the pod was a cloning vessel had been difficult for her as well. She had been a part of the science team that had probed into its mysteries and come to the startling conclusion of what its true purpose was. And she had been part of the debate afterwards, arguing the ethics of how to deal with the resultant clone. 

"I know," Andy replied. "And that's why this is his decision, as much as mine." Andy studied Felicity's face, wondering just how deeply her feelings ran for the clone. He had watched her during the short interview and seen the looks that she'd tried to mask, looks that previously had been reserved for him alone and he'd felt a sharp stab of jealousy. 

Felicity raised her head and met Andy's gaze, pressing her lips together and nodding her understanding. "I'll wake him up, and then I'll let him know he's in for a shock." She paused and then said, "And then I think it's best if I left you two alone. But not without taking a precaution first." She walked out of the room for a moment and came back with a pair of syringes. "Subcutaneous transponder. Just in case." She injected the RFID chip into the sole of the clone's left foot and then she picked up the second syringe and injected it into the I.V. "You better step behind the screen while I get him ready." 

"It will be all right, love," Andy said projecting confidence that he didn't entirely feel.

"I know," Felicity replied. Because what else could she say? She pulled a low stool closer to the bed and took the clone's hand in hers as Andy wondered how he was going to get through the next few minutes.

***

"Felicity."

"I'm here." 

"Flis?" 

"I'm here."

By degrees, once again the clone roused from his chemically-induced slumber. 

"You knocked me out," he said accusingly as he came closer to a proper state of wakefulness. 

"I'm sorry." Felicity avoided the clone's eyes, keeping her own on the bank of monitors, watching the numbers climb. His heart rate was strong. His blood pressure was a little elevated, but that was to be expected, despite the suppressing effect of the tranquillisers, he was upset. "It was a necessary precaution."

"Why?" the clone asked. "What happened? Felicity, what's happened to me? You said there'd been an incident. What sort of an incident?" 

The clone struggled to sit upright. Felicity elevated the head of the bed and then rearranged the pillows so that he could recline comfortably. "Drink this – " She handed him a sterile pack of apple juice with a straw in it. He sipped, but as he did so, Felicity could see him running through the sorts of scenarios that would land him in the medical wing. 

"I've been attacked by some sort of brain sucking parasite," the clone said. "Is that it? Is that why you've kept me unconscious? The less I think, the slower it grows, and the more likely you'll be able to remove it without accidentally giving me a lobotomy? Or, or … poison! That tube was loaded some kind of bio-weapon. You had to knock me out while you pumped nerve toxins out of my system." He glanced over at the I.V. and the rest of the medical apparatus. "Is that it? I'm not in the cells, so it can't have turned me into an alien super-soldier."

Felicity shook her head. "It wasn't a parasite and we don't think it was a bio-weapon, at least not exactly." 

The clone scowled. "What then? For the love of God, woman, would you just tell me what's going on?"

In her army days, Felicity had broken the news to soldiers that they had lost limbs or worse, were dying, but some how those conversations, as rough as some of them had gone, didn't seem nearly as difficult as delivering the news that the clone wasn't the man he thought he was. She gave herself a mental tug on the collar and started again. "After the incident we ran extensive analysis."

"Felicity," the clone said in a warning tone of voice. On the monitor his blood pressure continued to rise, reflecting his frustration with the situation. 

Felicity took a breath and then blurted. "You've been cloned. forty-three days ago the pod took extensive biometric data and DNA samples and then it replicated – " 

"Me." Andy stepped out from behind the curtain. "It replicated me. And we don't know who's responsible or why they'd do such a thing." He met his own dumbstruck expression with a sympathetic one and shrugged. "And that's where we're at." 

The clone shook his head. "No. No way. That's it. I've had enough. I've accepted Weevils and two headed aliens and junk from space. But this is too much." He pointed at his I.V. line. "Hit me with an extra large dose of retcon and send me back to the police. I quit."

Despite the fact she had anticipated the clone's reaction, Felicity felt a strong twinge of impatience. And then she caught herself. This wasn't her Andy demanding to chuck it all in. She mustered the most reasonable argument and her most no-nonsense tone of voice. "Andy, we've been cloning livestock for years. It's not an impossible technology." 

The clone's expression set into stubborn lines. "In case you haven't noticed, Felicity, I may be Welsh, but I'm not a sheep. You don't go round cloning people." 

"We don't," Andy said as he pointed up to the ceiling. "But out there, somewhere, someone does. And now, as usual, we've got to clean up their mess." Felicity vacated the her place at the bedside and he sat down. "So build a bridge and get over it, Andy, because we've got to figure out how this is going to work with two of us around."

***

Around the conference room table Jack, Ianto, and members of the technical staff convened, watching the pair of Andys on the CCTV. Felicity walked in and took an empty spot at the table. Ianto rose and poured her a coffee.

"Thanks," she said, giving him a weary smile before looking up at the screen and then away again. 

"How are you holding up?" Jack asked. 

Felicity shrugged. "I won't deny it would have been easier if Dan had been lead on this one." She tipped her head at her assistant, Dr Daniel Chen, a primary care specialist who had a strong interest in genetics. She straightened her spine and pushed the hated fringe away from her face. "I'm holding up. At least as well as Andy is, at any rate." She turned to face Mark. "Now that it's been vacated, have you learned anything else about the inner workings of the pod?"

Mark nodded. His eyes were bright and lively, and his round, apple-like cheeks were pink with excitement as he shared his team's recent discoveries. "The science is incredibly advanced. We've disconnected the control panel, so we don't accidentally set the replication cycle off again, but it's about as sophisticated and as idiot-proof a mechanism as I've ever seen. Step into the target zone, touch the bio-scanner, and the machine does the rest. As far as we can determine, it can cycle ten times before it needs any sort of maintenance."

"Ten times," Felicity mused. "According to every test I've run, these copies are perfect replicas, down to the last cell division and memory at the time of the scan. If you had a room full of these things, you could create an entire squadron of fully trained soldiers, and as soon as they vacated the pods, you could do it all again. That's frighteningly efficient." 

"If that's what their intended use was." Dr Chen pushed the metal frame of his glasses up the bridge of his nose, resettling them more comfortably. "What if they were creating bio-identical test subjects? You know, like they use in animal research. Think of it; once you had quantified the variables of a single specimen, you could replicate him repeatedly. No more surprises in final phase testing of drugs or vaccines." 

Jack had a flashback to the horrific discovers at PHARM and shuddered. "Which is all the more reason to make sure we've hit the off switch on this pod, and keep any others that might come through the Rift out of the hands of unethical scientists. Which leaves us with our more immediate problem."

"He's an asset," Ianto said. "He's a fully trained field operative with good people skills. We need those." 

"Point taken," Jack said. "And apparently, at least the two Andys agree with you."

While those assembled around the conference table discussed the mysteries of the cloning pod, the pair of Andys had been talking animatedly, hashing out their dilemma.

"And if people both see us out on the job, how are we going to explain ourselves?" Andy said to the clone. "I've lived in this city all my life. People bloody well know I don't have a twin." 

The clone made an impatient gesture and winced as he yanked on his I.V. "I don't know, I'll have the docs over at Flat Holm rearrange my face, like witness protection. You can pass me off as one of the cousins from up north. There's only about a hundred of them. Even mum can't keep them all straight." 

Andy nodded. "Yeah, that could work. I could stay on with the EMS. You could take over training. No one will ever get sloppy on their field reports again if they see that you're the results." 

"Oh, ta for that," the clone said sharply. 

Andy shrugged. "I'm just saying. There was nothing in the database about that pod. If I'd known, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation." 

The clone looked up at the ceiling, addressing the CCTV. "I know you lot are watching this, but this next bit is personal, so if I promise not to hit him on the head and leg it, will you give us a minute?" 

Jack thumbed a control activating an intercom. "You know I can't do that." 

On the screen the clone pulled a frustrated face, and then he countered. "Fine. But can you at least mute the sound? Just for a couple of minutes." 

"Five minutes," Jack replied. On screen the two Andys looked up at the camera and then they resumed their conversation. At first the clone's body language was hesitant and Andy's defensive. The pair grew tense, and finally, as the five minute marker closed, they seemed to come to some sort of agreement. Andy reached forward and clasped his clone's shoulder. His expression was sober, as if he was dealing with someone who'd suffered a loss. He drew away and glanced up at the screen, indicating that their private conversation had reached its conclusion.

***

Three days of unseasonable weather had made navigating the waters around Flat Holm Island dangerous and delayed the plan of action Jack had formulated with the island's medical staff. Now, Andy and Felicity stood on the quayside and watched the _Sea Queen_ , captained by Jack and crewed by Ianto and the clone, putter sedately out of the harbour. They waved one last time. Felicity slipped her arm around Andy's waist and looked up at him quizzically. "You never told me what it was you two talked about after the sound was cut."

Andy looked out to sea again, wondering if it made a difference and decided under the circumstances, Felicity had a right to know. "You. We talked about you. He decided he could live with a new face. He could live with a new name. But he couldn't live with the memory of you lying in my arms. He loves you, Flis, as much as I do. He couldn't come back to work here and watch us together, knowing that it could have been him. He asked to have certain key memories retconned so he wouldn't feel like he had lost you." 

"He's a brave man," Felicity said quietly. "If our positions had been reversed, I'm not sure I could make the same sacrifice." 

"He knows I'll do right by you, Felicity," Andy said with an intensity that surprised himself. He put his arms around her waist and met her eyes. "I promised you the day we met that I would always have your back and now I've promised him. No matter what happens; alien invasion or my meddling mother, I will always do right by you." 

There didn't seem to be anything else to say after that. But the kiss that followed suggested that at least for the time being, there didn't need to be.

end


End file.
